Bucks stick with rotations despite numerous injuries

Bucks guard Gary Payton II (left) goes up for a rebound with teammate Khris Middleton Saturday night against the Utah Jazz. Payton got his fourth start of the season in the game.(Photo: Jeff Hanisch/USA TODAY Sports)

With a start Saturday night against the Utah Jazz, Gary Payton II has now started more games for the Milwaukee Bucks than he has played with the Wisconsin Herd as part of his two-way contract.

Payton, who gets 45 days with the Bucks as part of his contract, has appeared in nine games this season and started four, compared to three appearances for the Herd in the G League. Most of his time with Milwaukee has come since Matthew Dellavedova went out with left knee tendinitis in mid-November, creating a depth issue for the Bucks at point guard as Dellavedova has missed 11 straight games.

"I've got use them either or — spread them out or however they want to do it," Payton said. "When they need me, when Delly's out like that, it means I've got to be up. Just taking advantage of the opportunity and every day getting better."

Over the back-to-back games Friday and Saturday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, the Bucks had four players out in addition to Dellavedova. Tony Snell (left patella tendinitis), Mirza Teletovic (post-surgery, left knee), Jason Terry (left calf strain) and Jabari Parker (post-surgery, left ACL) were all out against both the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz.

Payton and fellow two-way player Joel Bolomboy have spent the better part of the past month with Milwaukee due to the confluence of these injuries, though the two haven't gotten the same level of usage.

That's been dictated in part by the team's injuries as guards have spent the most time on the shelf, opening up minutes and opportunities for Payton. When John Henson and Giannis Antetokounmpo missed Milwaukee's game in Phoenix, Bolomboy logged 20 minutes and anchored the interior in overtime.

But only Payton has started. In each of the first three contests, Payton logged 9 1/2 minutes or fewer, seldom seeing the floor after his first stint on the court at tip-off.

“We’re trying to keep everybody in their role," coach Jason Kidd said of having Payton in the starting lineup in place of Snell. "Right now we have a lot of guys that are hurt so we have some new roles taking place. … We need everybody off the bench to give us something.”

The decision to give a G League player minutes, let alone start him, is an interesting one. In the first year of two-way contracts, use of those players at the NBA level has run the gamut. Some haven't gotten into any games yet. Others have started, including Quinn Cook, who joined the Golden State Warriors' starting lineup immediately after Stephen Curry's ankle injury.

Payton, who has been with the Bucks since late last season, is in the uncommon position of being a two-way player who has started multiple games.

"I see it as the staff, they trust me out there with those guys to do what I do," Payton said. "They may need me out there to score and stuff like that, but (also) to get guys going and spark it on the defensive end."

While Payton slotting into the starting lineup reflects on him, it also says something about the way Kidd and the Bucks think about reigning rookie of the year Malcolm Brogdon, who opened the year in Milwaukee's starting lineup. Since acquiring Eric Bledsoe, the Bucks have used Brogdon off the bench.

After an adjustment period, Brogdon has settled into that role. Even with all the injuries, Kidd has opted to keep Brogdon coming off the bench, though his minutes have jumped up when needed, including playing 40-plus minutes against the Suns and Mavericks. He's also often been part of Milwaukee's closing unit, pointing to the team's faith in him.

"We made a trade and sometimes it’s hard to make that adjustment, but with his maturity and his skill set he understands what we need as a team and he’s doing that for us," Kidd said.

“Sometimes trades are done because of the makeup of your team. We thought if we had to move Malcolm or Tony to the bench both could handle it and both could be happy with it. ... Malcolm has handled it first-class. He wants to end games and he’s been in at the end of games. He wants to help his team win and again you look at our bench, our bench has gotten better here in the last couple games.”